Furia Livia Medullina Camilla (ca. 6 BC-ca 10 AD) was the second fiancee of the future Emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

Biography

Medullina was the daughter of Marcus Furius Camillus consul in AD 8, who was a close friend of the emperor Tiberius and Livia Scriboniana, the daughter of

Marcus Livius Drusus Libo Marcus Livius Drusus Libo was an ancient Roman consul of the early Roman Empire. He was the son of Lucius Scribonius Libo by an unknown wife and adopted brother of Roman empress Livia. His natural paternal aunt was Scribonia, the second wife of ...

(born Lucius Scribonius Libo), the adopted brother of the empress

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC – 28 September AD 29) was a Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Roman emperor, Emperor Augustus Caesar. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal Adoption in ancient Rome, adoption into the J ...

. As a child, Medullina may have been called by the names Furia and Camilla (possibly along with her other names), but as an adult she seems to have been referred to mainly as "Livia Medullina". Her '' nomen gentilicium'' Furia is not actually attested but can be assumed to have been used at some point due to Roman naming conventions for women at the time. Medullina's brother was Lucius Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus, who had been adopted by

Lucius Arruntius Lucius Arruntius was a Roman admiral. He saw action during the War with Sextus Pompeius, and the war of Mark Antony and Octavian (later named Augustus). He is most notable for his participation during the Battle of Actium, where he was in command ...

. He was consul in AD 32, as the colleague of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. Medullina was betrothed to Claudius some time after his first engagement, to his relative

Aemilia Lepida Aemilia Lepida is the name of several ancient Roman women belonging to the ''gens Aemilia''. The name was given to daughters of men belonging to the Lepidus branch of the Aemilius family. The first Aemilia Lepida to be mentioned by Roman historian ...

, was broken by Augustus in AD 8, due to the disgrace of Aemilia's parents. Tiberius probably pushed for the new betrothal, in order to reward his friend with a connection to the imperial family. The betrothal of Medullina and Claudius is attested by an inscription erected by Camilla's pedagogue, dedicated to "Medullina Camilli f. Ti. Claudi Neronis Germanici sponsa" (Medullina, daughter of Camillus, betrothed of Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus). In '' The Twelve Caesars'',

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

states that Medullina unexpectedly fell ill, and died on the day of her wedding to Claudius, possibly in AD 9 or 10.Vagi, "Tiberius Claudius Drusus". Medullina's brother Scribonianus was the instigator of the first major rebellion against Claudius, while he was governor of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

in AD 42.

Cultural depictions

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

' novel '' I, Claudius'', Medullina Camilla is depicted as an early love of Claudius, who is able to look past his infirmities. Against Livia Drusilla's wishes, Claudius is permitted to marry Medullina by

Germanicus Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was an ancient Roman general, known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the Patric ...

and Augustus. However, Claudius is robbed of happiness on the day of the engagement as Medullina Camilla is assassinated, purportedly for an unrelated vendetta against Medullina's uncle.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

, ''

De Vita Caesarum ''De vita Caesarum'' (Latin; "About the Life of the Caesars"), commonly known as ''The Twelve Caesars'', is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The g ...

'' (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars). * Meriwether Stuart, "The Date of the Inscription of Claudius on the Arch of Ticinum", in ''American Journal of Archaeology'', vol. XL, pp. 314–322 (1936). * Ronald Syme, ''The Roman Revolution'', Oxford University Press (1939). * Timothy P. Wiseman, "Calpurnius Siculus and the Claudian Civil War", in '' The Journal of Roman Studies'', vol. 72, pp. 57–67 (1982). * Mika Kajava, "Livia Medullina and CIL X 6561", in ''Arctos'', 1986, Acta Philologica Fennica, pp. 59–71 (1987). * Barbara Levick, ''Claudius'', Yale University Press (1990); ''Tiberius the Politician'', Routledge (2003). * Mary Mudd, ''I, Livia: The Counterfeit Criminal. The Story of a Much Maligned Woman'', Trafford Publishing (2005). * David L. Vagi, "Tiberius Claudius Drusus († AD 20), Son of Claudius and Urgulanilla", in ''American Journal of Numismatics'', vol. 22, pp. 81–92 (2010). * Alison E. Cooley, ''The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy'', Cambridge University Press (2012). * Andrew Pettinger, ''The Republic in Danger: Drusus Libo and the Succession of Tiberius'', Oxford University Press (2012). * Stephen P. Kershaw, "A Brief History of the Roman Empire'', Hachette UK (2013). * {{Refend Julio-Claudian dynasty 1st-century Roman women Medullina Women of Claudius